§ 35. Sir A. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for War the reason for prisoner of war No. 90332, Thomas Lynch, being sentenced by the German authorities to death in 1941, the sentence being later commuted to one of 15 years' imprisonment; and in view of the anxiety of this man's mother who is a war worker in Slough, has already lost one son in the war and has four others serving, he will ask the Protecting Power to inquire into the conditions under which Thomas Lynch is confined in a prison at Bremen; and what his diet is as he is not allowed to receive parcels and is reported to be in a weak condition?
§ Sir J. GriggThis man was not sentenced to death but to 15 years' penal servitude for mutiny and arson. He was one of a number of merchant seamen to whom I referred in a reply I gave my hon. and gallant Friend on 30th November. As I stated, representations have been made to the German Government against the long sentences of penal servitude and the Protecting Power have been asked to visit these men at regular intervals and report on their condition. These men are given the normal German prison diet, but they are not allowed to receive parcels.